Pennsylvania casinos saw revenue drop by $759 million in 2020, state reports
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Jan. 22—Pennsylvania casinos saw total revenues decrease by $759 million in 2020, a year plagued by the coronavirus pandemic that forced the properties to shutter for several months.
According to a new report from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, $2.65 billion was generated last year from the state's 13 casinos through slot machines, table games, sports wagering, online gambling, video gaming terminals and fantasy contests. In 2019, casinos in the state generated around $3.4 billion in revenue, or about 22% more than last year.
"It goes without saying it was a really devastating and challenging year for our industry," said Casey Clark, senior vice president, strategic communications with the American Gaming Association. "It doesn't come as any surprise to me that everyone's numbers are down compared to where things were in 2019."
In Pennsylvania, mitigation orders issued by Gov. Tom Wolf in both the spring and again in December caused facilities to close for a third of the days they would be open in a normal year. That shutdown took its toll on revenues generated by slot machines and table games, which decreased 43% and 44%, respectively, according to the report.
Slot machine revenues dropped from $2.3 billion in 2019 to $1.3 billion in 2020, while table game revenues decreased from $903.5 million in 2019 to $504.3 million in 2020. That decrease was felt by every casino in the state.
Locally, slot machine revenues at Rivers Casino on Pittsburgh's North Shore dropped 46%, or $137.3 million, while table game revenues decreased almost 42%, or by $34 million.
The Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Washington County followed with a 44% decrease in slot revenues that totaled $88 million. The facility saw a larger decrease than Rivers in table game revenues, reporting an almost 46% drop, or $16.4 million.
Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin in Fayette County saw slot revenues drop 38%, or $11.3 million, while table games dropped almost 40%, or $1.3 million.
Live! Casino Pittsburgh, which opened in Hempfield's Westmoreland Mall in November, was open almost a month before it was forced to shutter in December. Still, during that time the facility generated $3.7 million in slot machine revenues and $524,000 in table game revenues.
But for casinos across the state, that December shutdown only added to revenue losses felt throughout the year.
Last month alone, total revenues at all casinos decreased 42%, or $123 million, compared to 2019, according to the Gaming Control Board. Of that, slot revenues dropped 77%, or $145 million, and table game revenues decreased 78%, or $61 million.
Almost all casinos — except Hollywood Casino at Penn National in Dauphin County and Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia — saw total revenues decrease in December.
Locally, the shutdown contributed to a 79% decrease — or $26.8 million — in total revenues at Rivers between December 2020 and the same period in 2019. The Meadows saw a 50% decline, or $9 million while Nemacolin revenues decreased by 85%, or $2.4 million. In December, Live! Casino generated $2 million.
Non-traditional gambling
Despite the losses, casino revenues were largely bolstered by other forms of gambling, namely sports betting, online gambling (iGaming), video gaming terminals and fantasy contests. In all, those generated $793.2 million in revenues last year, up from $145.9 million in 2019.
"The way I look at, this would have been even more dire without the online aspect," said Dustin Gouker, lead analyst for Play Pennsylvania, an independent website covering legal and regulated gambling in the state. "It didn't replace all of that revenue, but it made it not quite as bad as it might have been."
Last year, iGaming brought in the highest revenues, which totaled $565.7 million. The first iGaming provider opened in July 2019. That year, iGaming generated $33.5 million. By the end of 2020, there were 10 iGaming certificate holders in the state operating 13 online sites.
Sports wagering, which has continued to grow since the state's first sportsbook opened in November 2018, generated $189.7 million in revenues last year, a 126% increase from the $84.1 million generated in 2019. In December, bets rolling into facilities boosted revenues.
At The Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Washington County, sports wagering saw one of the largest revenue growths, boasting $5.4 million generated in December compared to $741,000 generated in December 2019. Rivers Pittsburgh saw a 9% decline last year, or a decrease of almost $183,000. Live! Casino generated more than $29,000 in sports wagering revenues last month.
While closed in December to comply with mitigation orders, video gaming terminals grew by $14.3 million in 2020, data show. The first terminal became operational in August 2019. By the end of 2020, there were 40 video gaming terminals in Pennsylvania.
That success, Clark said, helped Pennsylvania fare better than other states, with national gaming revenue through November down by more than 30%.
"Pennsylvania had very strong iGaming and sports betting returns that helped to mitigate some of the impact that not having the brick and mortar casinos open had on the economy," he said.
Looking through 2021, Clark said he's hopeful a vaccine rollout will help the industry get back on its feet.
"Our expectations with the introduction of vaccines and therapeutics ... (is) we can get the distribution kick started in a way that will help to inoculate more and more people that we'll start to see significant recovery for the industry and we'll be back on our feet by the end of the year," Clark said.
Megan Tomasic is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Megan at 724-850-1203, mtomasic@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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